Okla-homey
10/3/2006, 05:59 AM
October 3, 1942: Hitler's Germany conducts first successful V-2 rocket test
Sixty-four years ago, on this day in 1942, German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun's brainchild, the V-2 missile, is fired successfully from Peenemunde. It traveled 118 miles. Primarily a terror weapon, it proved to be of little moment in the Nazi war effort, but was the precursor to the Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) of the post-war era.
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/5007/v2t028932a1zp.jpg
V-2 Peenemund test launch, October 3, 1942
Prior to the V-2, the Nazi's had a ground launched cruise missile the Allies called the V-1. It had a pulse-jet engine fueled with gasoline and compressed air and was launched from a ramp. Its engine made a loud, buzzing sound, leading to its nickname "buzz bomb."
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/9533/v1buzzbomb8lh.jpg
Immediate post-war image of a V-1, the world's first cruise missile.
The engine was set to shut off after traveling a certain distance, which was when the bomb would fall on the target and explode. It had no navigation system, so aiming was simply a matter of launching it in the direction of the target. When the buzzing noise stopped, the bomb was about to hit.
Because of their limited range, the Nazi "Buzz Bombs" of World War II were launched from countries along the English Channel that wereoccupied by Germany, landing in southern England and London. The first one hit London on June 12, 1943. At the height of their use, 190 were launched daily. But the British quickly became expert at intercepting the slow-moving drones with Royal Air Force fighters and taking down the rest with anti-aircraft artillery. Consequently, only 25 percent of all V-1s launched ever reached their targets.
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/7915/v2nasm2365xw.jpg
You can see both the V-1 and V-2 in the same hall of the National Air and Space Museum in D.C.
The next generation of Germany’s missile weapon, the V-2, was developed by von Braun and his colleagues at the research and testing facility the Nazis built for them at Peenemünde on the Baltic coast. Since 1937, these researchers had worked with various degrees of success on a series of rockets, each time refining the fuels and guidance systems of earlier versions. During a test on October 3, 1942, the V-2 became the first vehicle to break the sound barrier when it sped into the sky.
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/8779/v2flight9av.jpg
As mentioned, not all the early V-2 tests were successful, here's one in which the missile went stupid right after launch.
In future tests, the missile reached an altitude of 37 miles, a range of 119 miles, a flight time of four minutes and 55 seconds, and a final speed of 0.75 mile per second. Impressed, Hitler ordered full-scale production of the V-2, armed with a 2,000-pound warhead of high explosives, in December 1942. The rushed production schedule meant that many kinks remained.
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/3428/vspacethree76iw.gif
V-2 launch and terminal attack profile
The Germans built the weapon at a large underground facility called Mittlewerk that was staffed with slave labor transferred from the Buchenwald concentration camp. Conditions at the facility were horrific, and thousands of prisoners died due to malnutrition, disease, exhaustion, or hangings by camp guards.
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/3302/v2mit0154lt.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Post-war image of a V-2 being packed up for shipment to the US. Photographed in the Nazi underground missile works at Peenemund
On September 7, 1944, the first V-2's, were fired at Allied targets. Soon they were raining down primarily on London and Antwerp, and continued to do so until March 27, 1945. The V-2 struck suddenly, giving its victims no time to seek shelter. The only warning was the double sonic boom as the rocket reentered the atmosphere. British morale began to drop somewhat as they realized there was no way to fight the new weapon once it was launched.
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/7551/v2spacethree21pu.gif
Designed and built at Peenemund (1), typically launched from sites in the Low Countries like Utrecht (2), target London (3)
The Allies’ only defense was to destroy the V-2 launch sites, and their bombers destroyed as many fixed launch sites as possible. In response, the Germans began to launch their missiles from mobile launch platforms; sometimes they launched from city streets, using the buildings as screens. Aiming the missiles became extremely inaccurate, and targets were hit less often as launch sites moved from place to place.
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/5320/v2missile7tt.jpg
Captured German V-2 mobile tactical launch system.
Militarily, the V-2 was a disaster for the Germans. Despite the fear it engendered among civilians, it had no effect on the Allies’ ability to attack Germany. It was inaccurate and had an insignificant warhead. It killed a total of approximately 2,000 people, a small number when compared to a single bombing raid that could kill tens of thousands in one night.
After the war, we estimated that the industrial effort and resources that Germany devoted to the program could have been used to produce 24,000 fighter aircraft. The program had drained both money and scarce materials such as steel and aluminum from more useful weapons like tanks, airplanes, and submarines, and probably helped the Allies’ cause. Although ineffective militarily, many paid a high price for V-2 production: an estimated 20,000 prisoners died in the inhumane conditions at Mittlewerk. The V-2 was one of the few weapons in which more people died from producing it than died as targets through its use as a weapon.
After the war ended, dozens of remaining V-2s and the scientists who designed them were captured by the United States and the Soviet Union. The rockets and rocket men formed the basis for both countries’ early rocket research. Von Braun and many of his colleagues emigrated to the United States, where they worked on the Jupiter and Redstone missiles and later the Saturn rockets. They built rockets designed to launch nuclear weapons to the Soviet Union and humans to the Moon. In return, the United States protected them from war crimes trials resulting from the use of slave labor.
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/9681/v2ausschnitt0102013nj.jpg
Werhner von Braun
As Tom Wolfe wrote in "The Right Stuff," the Russian's got the jump on the US in the early space race causing Vice President Johnson to opine, "I think we musta brung home the wrong Nazi's." Of course, the Saturn V, the Apollo launch vehicle was von Braun's creation, so "our" Nazi scientists were ultimately vindicated when they helped us beat the Commie's to the Moon.
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/5605/vonbrauncaptureweb9002wo.th.jpg (http://img86.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vonbrauncaptureweb9002wo.jpg)
von Braun and fellow rocket scientists shortly after capture by US forces. von Braun center with arm in cast.
http://img319.imageshack.us/img319/1126/apollo11launch0eo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Von Braun's greatest design, the Saturn V
http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/4169/insane7zo8iz.jpg
Sixty-four years ago, on this day in 1942, German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun's brainchild, the V-2 missile, is fired successfully from Peenemunde. It traveled 118 miles. Primarily a terror weapon, it proved to be of little moment in the Nazi war effort, but was the precursor to the Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) of the post-war era.
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/5007/v2t028932a1zp.jpg
V-2 Peenemund test launch, October 3, 1942
Prior to the V-2, the Nazi's had a ground launched cruise missile the Allies called the V-1. It had a pulse-jet engine fueled with gasoline and compressed air and was launched from a ramp. Its engine made a loud, buzzing sound, leading to its nickname "buzz bomb."
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/9533/v1buzzbomb8lh.jpg
Immediate post-war image of a V-1, the world's first cruise missile.
The engine was set to shut off after traveling a certain distance, which was when the bomb would fall on the target and explode. It had no navigation system, so aiming was simply a matter of launching it in the direction of the target. When the buzzing noise stopped, the bomb was about to hit.
Because of their limited range, the Nazi "Buzz Bombs" of World War II were launched from countries along the English Channel that wereoccupied by Germany, landing in southern England and London. The first one hit London on June 12, 1943. At the height of their use, 190 were launched daily. But the British quickly became expert at intercepting the slow-moving drones with Royal Air Force fighters and taking down the rest with anti-aircraft artillery. Consequently, only 25 percent of all V-1s launched ever reached their targets.
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/7915/v2nasm2365xw.jpg
You can see both the V-1 and V-2 in the same hall of the National Air and Space Museum in D.C.
The next generation of Germany’s missile weapon, the V-2, was developed by von Braun and his colleagues at the research and testing facility the Nazis built for them at Peenemünde on the Baltic coast. Since 1937, these researchers had worked with various degrees of success on a series of rockets, each time refining the fuels and guidance systems of earlier versions. During a test on October 3, 1942, the V-2 became the first vehicle to break the sound barrier when it sped into the sky.
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/8779/v2flight9av.jpg
As mentioned, not all the early V-2 tests were successful, here's one in which the missile went stupid right after launch.
In future tests, the missile reached an altitude of 37 miles, a range of 119 miles, a flight time of four minutes and 55 seconds, and a final speed of 0.75 mile per second. Impressed, Hitler ordered full-scale production of the V-2, armed with a 2,000-pound warhead of high explosives, in December 1942. The rushed production schedule meant that many kinks remained.
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/3428/vspacethree76iw.gif
V-2 launch and terminal attack profile
The Germans built the weapon at a large underground facility called Mittlewerk that was staffed with slave labor transferred from the Buchenwald concentration camp. Conditions at the facility were horrific, and thousands of prisoners died due to malnutrition, disease, exhaustion, or hangings by camp guards.
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/3302/v2mit0154lt.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Post-war image of a V-2 being packed up for shipment to the US. Photographed in the Nazi underground missile works at Peenemund
On September 7, 1944, the first V-2's, were fired at Allied targets. Soon they were raining down primarily on London and Antwerp, and continued to do so until March 27, 1945. The V-2 struck suddenly, giving its victims no time to seek shelter. The only warning was the double sonic boom as the rocket reentered the atmosphere. British morale began to drop somewhat as they realized there was no way to fight the new weapon once it was launched.
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/7551/v2spacethree21pu.gif
Designed and built at Peenemund (1), typically launched from sites in the Low Countries like Utrecht (2), target London (3)
The Allies’ only defense was to destroy the V-2 launch sites, and their bombers destroyed as many fixed launch sites as possible. In response, the Germans began to launch their missiles from mobile launch platforms; sometimes they launched from city streets, using the buildings as screens. Aiming the missiles became extremely inaccurate, and targets were hit less often as launch sites moved from place to place.
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/5320/v2missile7tt.jpg
Captured German V-2 mobile tactical launch system.
Militarily, the V-2 was a disaster for the Germans. Despite the fear it engendered among civilians, it had no effect on the Allies’ ability to attack Germany. It was inaccurate and had an insignificant warhead. It killed a total of approximately 2,000 people, a small number when compared to a single bombing raid that could kill tens of thousands in one night.
After the war, we estimated that the industrial effort and resources that Germany devoted to the program could have been used to produce 24,000 fighter aircraft. The program had drained both money and scarce materials such as steel and aluminum from more useful weapons like tanks, airplanes, and submarines, and probably helped the Allies’ cause. Although ineffective militarily, many paid a high price for V-2 production: an estimated 20,000 prisoners died in the inhumane conditions at Mittlewerk. The V-2 was one of the few weapons in which more people died from producing it than died as targets through its use as a weapon.
After the war ended, dozens of remaining V-2s and the scientists who designed them were captured by the United States and the Soviet Union. The rockets and rocket men formed the basis for both countries’ early rocket research. Von Braun and many of his colleagues emigrated to the United States, where they worked on the Jupiter and Redstone missiles and later the Saturn rockets. They built rockets designed to launch nuclear weapons to the Soviet Union and humans to the Moon. In return, the United States protected them from war crimes trials resulting from the use of slave labor.
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/9681/v2ausschnitt0102013nj.jpg
Werhner von Braun
As Tom Wolfe wrote in "The Right Stuff," the Russian's got the jump on the US in the early space race causing Vice President Johnson to opine, "I think we musta brung home the wrong Nazi's." Of course, the Saturn V, the Apollo launch vehicle was von Braun's creation, so "our" Nazi scientists were ultimately vindicated when they helped us beat the Commie's to the Moon.
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/5605/vonbrauncaptureweb9002wo.th.jpg (http://img86.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vonbrauncaptureweb9002wo.jpg)
von Braun and fellow rocket scientists shortly after capture by US forces. von Braun center with arm in cast.
http://img319.imageshack.us/img319/1126/apollo11launch0eo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Von Braun's greatest design, the Saturn V
http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/4169/insane7zo8iz.jpg